50 Things I Learned in 2015

In honor of the new year coming up, I have compiled a list of 50 (!) things I learned in 2015. To jog my memory, I looked through photos from this past year which was both fun and a little bit embarrassing. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time and would have never guessed I would be where I am now. Thank you to all who have helped me on this journey. In no particular order here are some important lessons I learned:

If you want to be friends with someone, just tell them and be their friend.

On that note, your best friends can be some of the most unlikely ones.

The people that exclude you are people you don’t want to be friends with.

Sometimes sleep is more important than anything else.

If you think you have a sinus infection, you probably do.

Life is precious, so enjoy your time with your loved ones while you can.

Sometimes it takes tragedy to bring people together.

It’s not all about you.

Your head and your heart are both there for a reason, don’t use one over the other all the time.

Hiking a mountain isn’t that hard as long as you don’t look back and remind yourself that it will be worth it once you get to the top.

Be good to people that are good to you.

I wish I could say I learned something from going to Mexico but I mostly just learned that people are gross and never stop peeing in pools, regardless of age.

Always trust your gut.

There are all kinds of different parents. Love yours no matter what.

You probably won’t get into your dream school, but once you end up where you’re meant to be, you’ll completely forget about it.

Do not tolerate mean people.

It’s okay to say no.

Cherish those who encourage you to do amazing things.

Stop worrying about how things could be better and start thinking of how great they are.

Don’t worry about it being a school night.

It’s super messed up that bullying is just considered “a part of high school”.

Teachers can make great role models.

Go camping, it’s fun.

Run. Take care of your body.

You look fine, nobody will notice anyways.

We can be totally wrong in our first impressions.

Anxiety can ruin the best moments.

Your acne could be worse.

College is terrifying until you actually get there.

DO NOT GO IN THE BATHROOM OF A FRAT HOUSE. DON’T DO IT.

Eat the whole pizza if you feel like it.

You never know who you might need to ask for a favor.

The people that only want you when they benefit from it are people you don’t need in your life at all.

Make friends with the people working the food carts outside of the bars… you could end up getting a free grilled cheese every Thursday night. (No guarantees on that)

Make sure you know both sides of the story before jumping to conclusions.

If you’re tired but all your friends want to go out, just go to bed. You won’t miss much anyways.

College football is something else.

It’s okay to just go for a walk by yourself.

Be with people that want to be with you.

Being an adult is expensive.

Don’t ignore the fire alarm. Even if it’s at 2 am.

Yogurt isn’t really that healthy for you.

It’s never too late to say sorry.

But that doesn’t mean you will be forgiven.

If you want to move forward, sometimes you need to leave people behind.

You can’t expect success if you’re not willing to work for it.

If you want to go on adventure, just do it. Don’t worry about the cost or what other people will think.

Crappy things will happen to you but the only thing you can change is the way you react to them.

It takes more energy to be negative than to be positive.

You can’t please everyone.

And there ya have it! It’s been a great year filled with laughter, tears, hard lessons, and new beginnings. I can’t wait to see what 2016 holds for me.